CAIRO – Scores of Muslim youth have volunteered on Christmas night to protect Christians in Nigeria’s north-western state of Kaduna during the late night mass, an effort appreciated by the church pastors.

“I really appreciate their love and care,’’ Pastor Yohanna Buru, a cleric of Christ Evangelical Church, Sabon Tasha, Kaduna South, was quoted by Vanguard.

Speaking to press agencies, the pastor said that over 200 Muslims were at his church to help protect the faithful from any attack during the church service.

The Muslims’ move is the first to protect churches in the state which has witnessed a number of attacks recently.

Expressing gratitude to Muslim youth, Buru praised them for trying to strengthen peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians in the state.

He also wished the nice gesture would be emulated by other citizens.

Christmas is the main festival on the Christian calendar. Its celebrations reach its peak at 12:00 PM on December 24 of every year.

Muslims believe in Jesus as one of the great Prophets of God and that he is the son of Mary but not the Son of God. He was conceived and born miraculously.

In the Noble Qur’an, Jesus is called “Isa”. He is also known as Al-Masih (the Christ) and Ibn Maryam (Son of Mary).

Muslim scholars assert that Muslims have their own identity and in order to keep this identity they must not celebrate Christmas or holidays of non-Muslims.

Nigeria, one of the world’s most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.

Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria’s 140 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.

But ethnic and religious tensions have bubbled for years, fuelled by decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands with migrants and settlers from the Hausa-speaking Muslim north.